Picky Procreator

Sunday Ember turned 2 years old, can you believe it? It was hot and humid so we decided to give him a bath. I don't think he appreciated the spa day. Then we tried to get some pictures of him. Black horses are hard to photograph and gangly little boys are even harder. Ember looks so much better in motion.

"I would really rather be eating grass"

And then Monday Roscoe had to go for a collection. Peggy chipped him out of the mud before we headed out. Luckily today was a one for two collection. Two mares ended up at the same repro vet and are ready at the same time. Small world is it not? Tawe's owner is breeding one of her other Cobs. She messaged me to say "Hey there is another mare waiting for Roscoe"... "A Paint." I had forgotten that the mare is a paint and looked at her picture again. She has less white than Roscoe. Tawe's owner said she is cute.

Breeding hair

Anyway Roscoe went to work. The vet did not put a tease mare in the shed. Last year that proved to be too much stimulation. This time the main vet actually handled him and another vet managed the AV. I was really impressed with his timing. He let Roscoe act like a stallion, but kept his actions within safe range. Roscoe actually mounted straight on the first approach. But the vet handling the AV was a bit too slow and did not meet Roscoe's exacting preference. So he deflated. After that he said it was too hot to get excited over an empty breeding shed.

The work he prefers

Time for a tease mare. Roscoe went outside with the main vet and got excited when he saw the mare going in. Again his approach was pretty straight, but the other vet did not get the AV on right. One more failure and the main vet decided to switch. This time the main vet got him in the AV as soon as he mounted and provided enough push to satisfy Roscoe's exacting standards. And just like that, Roscoe's portion was complete. Our picky procreator could now take a break.

Normally Roscoe goes on the trailer right after, but we found that Peggy had accidentally locked us out of the truck. Fortunately I had put my window down a few inches. An ERC worker was able to get a fly swatter in and use the little hole to pull up the lock. We were able to sponge off Roscoe and get him loaded while they processed the collection. Once they verified there was enough for two breedings, we headed home. Fingers crossed everyone. In a couple of weeks the mares will get checked. And he has another mare in the works too. She sadly was not ready and has to go another couple weeks.